Caravaggio is Having a Moment

The Ecce Homo was authenticated this month as a work of the Italian master’s last years. Photograph: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/Getty Images

Last month I mentioned the Netflix series Ripley and the recurring theme of Caravaggio in this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley. In this version the villain, Dickie Greenleaf, is a mid-twentieth century sociopath fascinated by the late sixteenth century painter, also a sociopath, who was dead at the age of 38. 

Caravaggio was recognized for his extraordinary talent and was in high demand to create religious works, bread and butter for painters of that era. His use of light and shade --chiarascuro -- resulted in marvellously atmospheric images. But he was a drunk and a womanizer and he stabbed a man to death in a fight, sending him into exile. No one is sure what illness caused his untimely death although its unlikely that he would have lived to old age for a number of reasons. I find his personal story, his subjects, and his unique talent, captivating. The head of Goliath in the painting below is likely a self-portrait which suggests that he had a macabre sense of humour. 

                                                               David with the Head of Goliath

Caravaggio is having a moment, thanks to the recent discover of another painting from his limited lifetime output. Here is the description from The Guardian:

Four centuries after it was painted, three and a half centuries after it arrived in Spain and three years after it came perilously close to going under the hannger for just €1,500, a lost, luminous and lovingly restored Caravaggio has gone on display at the Prado in Madrid. 

The Ecce Homo, painted in the Italian master’s dark and desperate last years, made headlines around the world after experts at the museum spotted it in an auction catalogue and rang Spain’s culture ministry to share their suspicions that the painting had been misattributed.

Despite it being billed as the work of the circle of the 17th-century Spanish artist Jose de Ribera, the specialists were pretty sure it had in fact sprung from the brushes of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.

Ecce Homo will be returned to the new owner, purportedly a British national living in Spain, who purchased it at auction for a staggering 36 million euros -- about 53 million Canadian dollars.

Caravaggio would probably have been delighted at the news and gone on a bender to celebrate.

 

Andrew Scott in Ripley (2024), viewing, from left, Caravaggio’s The Calling of St Matthew (1599–1600), The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602), and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (1599–1600). Photo: Netflix © 2023.